


When We Were Young

by stay_frosty_milk_tea (orphan_account)



Category: IT (2017), IT - Stephen King
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-22
Updated: 2019-03-22
Packaged: 2019-11-28 04:55:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18203810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/stay_frosty_milk_tea





	1. Chapter One

It was 3 in the afternoon, and Stanley and Bill were laying on Bill's bed, stomach side up. They'd ditched 8th period and come to hang out at Bill's. His parents weren't home, they never really were. After the death of Georgie, Bill's little brother, his parents paid little attention to what went on in their house. They often slept, and if they weren't sleeping, they were working. Really, it made Bill's house the unspoken, but official, 'hang out house' for all of the losers. Not that he minded in the slightest. He liked when the house was filled with unusually loud noise. 

"Hey, Bill?" Stanley turned his head to look into the nearby ocean eyes, breath catching in his throat when Bill also turns his head, noticing for the first time how close they are. How he can feel Bill's warm breath on his face, how he can smell his cologne.. 

"Yeah, Stanny?" He grins, not yet noticing the same details as Stan, his blue eyes too busy trailing Stan's facial features. "Y-you're really puh-pretty," He blurts out, wishing not to make a big deal out of it as soon as it leaves his mouth. Stan's face heats up, he can feel it burning, and Bill watching his cheeks flood with a light pink blush makes the rest of his body heat up in embarrassment. 

"U-uh, Billy.." Bill covers his mouth to hide his smile only for a moment before he removes it to speak again. 

"I'm s-suh-supposed to have the stutter, d-dude!" He laughs loud. "Stop s-stealing my thuh-th-thu.."

"Thing. Stop stealing my thing." Stan whispers, barely audible. Bill stops laughing, taking Stanley's quiet nature as a sign he's upset. 

"Stan? W-what's wrong?" He furrows his eyebrows in confusion, unsure what could have put the boy off that quickly. He leans up on his elbow to look Stan in the eye properly. Stan hesitates, opening his mouth. 

"Pretty. You called me pretty." He speaks in awe. Bill rolls his eyes. 

"Right, sorry, H-handsome. You're handsome Stanley. My apologies for not respecting that you aren't a girl, so you shouldn't be called pretty, well get used to it buddy because it's a new year, things are changing, and I think you--" 

Suddenly, warm lips are on his. And then suddenly, they're not. Bill just stares at Stan. Stan just stares at Bill. 

"Did you just.. kiss me?"

"I uh,.. I think I did. Sorry," Stanley's hands trembled as he sat up and grabbed his bag from the swivel chair a few feet away

And then Stanley was gone.


	2. Chapter 2

Bill didn't talk to him after that, and Stanley felt very cold without him. The silence lasted weeks, and he missed his best friend. He would try to talk to him occasionally, but Bill would brush him off. They were always questions with simple answers, like, "could I borrow a pencil," or "what's the date today?" No matter what, they were always from Stan and never from Bill. He wasn't even the only one who noticed Bill was avoiding him. The other losers noticed, too. 

It started with Eddie. A simple something, just a quiet whisper in his ear. It was almost inaudible, which was something Eddie was good at when he wanted to be. He was stealthy. Nearly silent, even. They had been at lunch, and everyone was engaged in a collective conversation, aside from Stan and Bill. Stan was giving soft smiles every now and then when he found one of their jokes amusing, but staring down at his lunch tray. Though, there seemed to be no effort from Bill at all. In fact, he didn't even show in the cafeteria some days. 

"Hey, what happened to you and Stanley?" Bill felt Eddie's warm hand cup around his ear, and then pull away when he finished speaking. He shrugged, as if it were an acceptable reply. Nothing, really. They just stopped hanging out all of a sudden. Eddie brushed it off. 

The next to notice was Beverly. She yanked Bill aside during gym without Mr. Bemire noticing and shoved him into the boys locker room, following behind without checking to see if there were any male students inside.

"What has gotten into you Bill? Has your big ego gone to your head?" Bill was confused. Big ego? What was Beverly talking about? 

"Bev, you're in the boys locker room, you need to—"

"No, you listen to me, Denbrough. I watched Stanley cry for 3 nights in a row because of you!" She spat at him fiercely, "He wants his best friend back, he doesn't care that you kissed him—" Bill holds out his hands, stopping her in her tracks. He now has some idea of what she's talking about, but he also knows she's had it all wrong. 

"Hold on a second, you think I kissed Stan?" He pauses to laugh a little, his way of showing her she's wrong, right before actually telling her. "No, he kissed me." He waves his arms around with his index finger extended as he speaks, allowing himself a little exaggeration. Beverly furrows her eyebrows in unintended response, and for a second, just a second, Bill thinks it'll all blow over. That the losers may know, but it's just a misunderstanding.

It only took him one more second to realize he was wrong. 

"You are so dense," The red headed female cries out, covering her face with her hands. Bill notices the aquamarine nail polish chipping on her right thumb. Beverly shakes her head, releasing her grip on her hairline and growling in frustration. 

"You're an absolute idiot. Figure it out, seriously." She then stormed out of the locker room, leaving Bill to sit with his thoughts. 

Two days later, it was Richie. The spunky kid rode his bike all the way across town to get to Bill's house on that Saturday, and knocked on the red, wooden door only for it to be opened by a crying William Denbrough. Richie pushed past him without speaking, ran into the kitchen to get a cola, then followed the miserable boy up to his room where they on his bed in silence for almost 2 hours. It's something Richie was used to, something they'd always done. Each year, Richie would come over to Bill's house early every morning on the first week of March. Bill would let him in and they would sit on his bed, sometimes in front of the living room couch if Mrs. Denbrough would let them, in pure, uninterrupted silence. Richie's birthday was on the first week of March, and he couldn't stand to be at home where nobody would even remember his middle name. Bill understood that.

Bill let his head rest on Richie's shoulder as he sobbed. Though his shirt sleeve was getting wet, Richie allowed it. The crying died down soon enough, and Richie hugged Bill. Not briefly, but for almost five minutes. Then, he wiped Bill's tears gently, very unlike the normal Richie. No, this Richie was different. The side of Richie that only Bill ever saw. Normally, when he came to his house late at night with cuts and bruises, allowing Bill to stitch him up. Bill supposed that this time it was his very own vulnerable state that allowed Richie to be this way again, even if just for a moment.

"Richie, I made a mistake. A big one. I'm such a bad, bad person," Bill sniffed, looking down at his lap. Richie pulled his face up to meet his, allowing a small smile to slip from his lips. 

"Stan told me about this, Bill, and trust me when I say this; you're not a bad person." Richie took a deep breath, and smacked Bill's shoulders. 

"Now, listen her Billy boy, you like Stanley, right?" Bill nodded.

"Then you gotta get off your skinny ass and go get him!" Richie pushed Bill off the bed by his shoulders, grinning. 

And so Richie had made Bill's decision for him.


End file.
